2013 Maryland's Land Conservation Conference

Description

The 13th annual Maryland Land Conservation Conference will take place on Tuesday, April 23, 2013 at the Conference Center at the Maritime Institute in Linthicum Heights, MD. Online registration is $60 and includes breakfast, lunch and a full day of educational sessions. For more information about the conference visit www.conservemd.org.

This year’s conference program focuses on “The Challenge of Perpetuity” and will offer a variety of workshops and educational sessions on partnerships in land conservation, building blocks for fundraising, innovative technologies for land prioritization and easement management. This annual event provides opportunity for land trust staff and board members to network and exchange new ideas about the future of land conservation in Maryland.

Peter Forbes, Senior Advisor and co-founder of the Center for Whole Communities will provide the keynote address and a follow up workshop (limited to 50 participants). Mr. Forbes is an inspirational speaker who has given over 100 keynote addresses to those who care about the fate of people and the land.

Thanks to our conference partners for their support!

The Maryland Department of Natural Resources, The Abell Foundation, The Chesapeake Conservancy, The Land Trust Alliance, The National Park Service, The Conservation Fund, O'Donohue & O'Donohough, and Wright, Constable & Sheen LLP

Pre-Conference Breakfast Talks: Join us 8:30am to 9:30am on April 23, 2013 for Breakfast Talks! Choose between the one of two discussions:

Exchange of good ideas or ‘bright spots’ from your county’s implementation of

MALPF or County program

Alternative MALPF Deed of Easement

Funding challenges for stewardship

Large Landscape Conservation -

Joel Dunn - Chesapeake Conservancy

Jonathan Doherty - National Park Service Chesapeake Bay Office

Topics include:

New tools and new partnerships

New and existing funding sources

Opportunities for land trust partnerships through the Conservancy's Special Places Fund

How dramatic changes in grassroots initiatives, technological innovation, new financial tools and new networking capabilities will shape the conservation movement

Morning Workshops: You may attend either of these workshops, please indicate which you prefer to attend when registering.

Workshop Title:Advocacy Basics – Because Decisions are Made by Those Who Show Up

Sean Robertson - Land Trust Alliance

Ryan Ewing - Partners for Open Space

Josh Hastings - Eastern Shore Land Conservancy

Bryan David - Land Trust Alliance

Brief Summary: Are you confident your legislators will defend against a raid on Program Open Space? Do you know how to translate Senator Mikulski’s appointment as Appropriations Chair into funding for your land trust? If your land trust isn’t at the table, it could end up on the menu. But your genuine local support, diverse partnerships, and the emotional impact of places you conserve can be more than enough to overcome armies of lobbyists in Annapolis and Washington. Join experienced advocates and former legislative staffers as we demystify the process of building relationships with legislators and map out the connections you already have at your disposal. You’ll leave with a clear action plan to engage your legislators and the confidence to engage in policy work at all levels of government.

Workshop Title:Community Engagement for Land Trusts -

Peter Forbes - Center for Whole Communities

Brief Summary: This year’s keynote speaker will lead a discussion that builds on the themes he raised in his address earlier in the day. With more time, a smaller group setting, and an interactive format, this workshop will explore how land trusts are - or should be - evolving, and how they can become more resilient organizations that better serve their communities.

Afternoon Sessions: A brief description of our afternoon sessions are below. You will be required to choose 3 afternoon sessions, one for each time slot.

Brief Summary: Gas development including fracking has consequences for land conservation. What to do about older easements (and landowners) that didn’t anticipate the natural gas boom? What to do when considering new easements? How to respond to offers to extract gas from land trust lands? What should land trust policies be?

Session Title:Building Blocks for Successful Fundraising

Peter Lane - Institute for Conservation Leadership

Brief Summary: Take steps to develop a more effective fundraising program. This hands-on workshop will give you the tools you need to increase and diversify your income. You will learn where money comes from, how to assess your organization’s fundraising “readiness”, and how to identify potential donors.

Brief Summary: This presentation will introduce participants to a newly developed web-based land conservation geographic information system to support sound, collaborative conservation planning and decision-making. The system utilizes the LandScope America platform to provide a publically accessible, user-friendly interface.

Session Title:Managing Agricultural Easements for the Long Term

Deborah Bowers – Maryland Agricultural Easement Administrators

Joy Levy - Maryland Agricultural Easement Administrators

Brief Summary: Agricultural easements both state and local make up a significant percentage of easements in the State. With perpetuity come challenges. Learn how Carroll Co. used the easement amendment process to arrive at a win-win solution for New Windsor and what Howard County did to prepare for an analysis of a landowner’s request to terminate an easement.

3:00 PM sessions include:

Session Title:Applying Innovative Technologies to Land Conservation

Joanna Ogburn – Chesapeake Conservancy

Brief Summary: Learn about innovations in conservation technology that can help identify the region's most important conservation opportunities and new partners with which to collaborate. The Chesapeake Conservancy will discuss their recently released report, which outlines new uses of advanced remote sensing tools and how the information obtained from these tools could be used to identify high quality land.

Brief Summary: The challenge of land conservation in perpetuity is to protect areas that support resilient socio-ecological systems. Landscape-scale conservation answers that challenge. Through the example of southern Maryland, participants will learn how to initiate a landscape-scale land preservation effort.

Session Title:What Value Perpetuity in a TMDL World

Jim Baird – American Farmland Trust

Brief Summary: This fresh look at the old question “What is better for the Bay, an acre of farm and an acre of development?” This session challenges the land conservation community to reassess our relevance in the face of the confines of the BAY TMDL.

Brief Summary: The session will share information regarding specific historic Indian landscapes in Maryland; conservation activities of the Maryland Indian Tourism Association; and partnerships addressing indigenous landscape conservation in Maryland. The session will discuss the complexities of conservation on a landscape scale and how the consideration of indigenous landscapes into conservation priorities can be applied to other historic and cultural resource integration

Session Title:Maryland Natural Areas Initiative

Jonathan McKnight – DNR Wildlife, Maryland Natural Heritage Program

Brief Summary: Maryland is blessed with amazing and unique habitats, many of them protected or managed by our Land Trusts. The Maryland Natural Areas initiative seeks to compile a catalog of our last best places and build a coalition to conserve and restore them.

Session Title: Conservation Easement Stewardship Roundtable

Megan D’Arcy - Eastern Shore Land Conservancy

Jon Chapman - Maryland Environmental Trust

Brief Summary: The conservation easement stewardship roundtable session is ideal for conservation easement stewardship staff and experienced volunteers. This peer-to-peer, open discussion format provides a key opportunity to network with colleagues, discuss pressing and emerging issues for stewardship, and introduce further engagement with stewardship staff in Maryland.